DAY 328: Trump won't refuse to pardon Michael Flynn

When asked if he would pardon Michael Flynn, Trump did not say no. Instead, according to CNN, Trump said this:

"I don't want to talk about pardons with Michael Flynn yet. We'll see what happens, let's see,"

Donald Trump Jr claims client attorney privilege on Donald Trump, but neither of them is a lawyer

Donald Trump Jr. refused to answer questions from the Senate about the Russia collusion investigation claiming client-attorney privilege. Problem is, neither him nor Trump are lawyers.

According to Politico:

Donald Trump Jr. on Wednesday cited attorney-client privilege to avoid telling lawmakers about a conversation he had with his father, President Donald Trump, after news broke this summer that the younger Trump — and top campaign brass — had met with Russia-connected individuals in Trump Tower during the 2016 campaign.

Though neither Trump Jr. nor the president is an attorney, Trump Jr. told the House Intelligence Committee that there was a lawyer in the room during the discussion, according to the committee’s top Democrat, Rep. Adam Schiff of California. Schiff said he didn’t think it was a legitimate invocation of attorney-client privilege.

DAY 314: Michael Flynn pleads guilty to lying to the FBI about Russia

Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak. According to The New York Times, this is part of the Robert Mueller investigation and it refers to a conversation Flynn had with the Russian ambassador before Trump took office. That is the same conversation he lied about to Mike Pence:

President Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn, pleaded guilty on Friday to lying to the F.B.I. about conversations with the Russian ambassador last December, becoming the first senior White House official to cut a cooperation deal in the special counsel’s wide-ranging inquiry into election interference.

Mr. Flynn’s discussions with Sergey I. Kislyak, the Russian ambassador, were part of a coordinated effort by Mr. Trump’s aides to create foreign policy before they were in power, documents released as part of Mr. Flynn’s plea agreement show. Their efforts undermined the existing policy of President Barack Obama and flouted a warning from a senior Obama administration official to stop meddling in foreign affairs before the inauguration.

But there's more.

DAY 300: Jared Kushner lied to Congress about WikiLeaks

According to NBC, Jared Kushner told the congressional intelligence committees he was not familiar with any attempts by WikiLeaks to contact the Trump Campaign. But a source familiar to Kushner said Trump's son in-law received an email by Donald Trump Jr. about the conversations he had with WikiLeaks favoring Trump:

One source familiar with Kushner's testimony before congressional intelligence committees said he specifically denied, under oath, that he was familiar with any attempts by WikiLeaks to contact the campaign. But, according to the source, Kushner was sent an email by Trump Jr. about his conversations on Twitter with WikiLeaks, which were first disclosed by the Atlantic this week. Kushner forwarded an email about the WikiLeaks conversations to communications director Hope Hicks, the source said. A second source familiar with Kushner's testimony did not dispute that account.

DAY 296: Donald Trump Jr. was in contact with WikiLeaks during the 2016 campaign

The Atlantic magazine revealed today Donald Trump Jr. exchanged direct messages with WikiLeaks via Twitter. The messages were initiated by WikiLeaks and contained information intended to help the Trump campaign. From the Atlantic article:

Just before the stroke of midnight on September 20, 2016, at the height of last year’s presidential election, the Wikileaks Twitter account sent a private direct message to Donald Trump Jr., the Republican nominee’s oldest son and campaign surrogate. “A PAC run anti-Trump site putintrump.org is about to launch,” Wikileaks wrote. “The PAC is a recycled pro-Iraq war PAC. We have guessed the password. It is ‘putintrump.’ See ‘About’ for who is behind it. Any comments?” (The site, which has since become a joint project with Mother Jones, was founded by Rob Glaser, a tech entrepreneur, and was funded by Progress for USA Political Action Committee.)

The next morning, about 12 hours later, Trump Jr. responded to Wikileaks. “Off the record I don’t know who that is, but I’ll ask around,” he wrote on September 21, 2016. “Thanks.”

DAY 295: Believe it or not, Trump didn't say anything stupid today

So yesteday Donald Trump delivered a statement today trying to waffle about him saying Putin didn't meddle in the 2016 election. It ended up being a word salad basically saying he does believe Putin but he has no choice but to sorta-kinda-maybe "backing" the US intelligence agencies that have categorically stated Putin DID meddle in the elecion:

Trump clarifies his comments on Putin + election hacking: "I believe that he feels that he and Russia did not meddle in the election. As to whether or not I believe it or not, I'm with our agencies" pic.twitter.com/nDqJqeytkk

— BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) November 12, 2017

But today, Trump had the good taste of not saying anything. At least that we know of.

DAY 293: Papadapoulos was in contact with Stephen Miller

Once again the claim by the Trump administration that George Papadopoulos was a low level nobody within the Trump campaign is proven a lie. According to The New York Times, Papadopoulos was in contact with Stephen Miller, who still is a top-level official with Trump:

Mr. Mueller’s investigators are seeking to determine who — if anyone — in the Trump campaign Mr. Papadopoulos told about the stolen emails. Although there is no evidence that Mr. Papadopoulos emailed that information to the campaign, Mr. Papadopoulos was in regular contact that spring with top campaign officials, including Stephen Miller, now a senior adviser to President Trump, according to interviews and campaign documents reviewed by The New York Times.

DAY 291: Papadopoulos presented himself to UK as representative of Trump campaign

Donald Trump and the White House have tried to characteize George Papadopoulos as a low level, unpaid volunteer who had very little to do with the Trump campaign. Photos and comments by Donald Trump himself show that's a lie by the Trump camp. But now UK officials are revealing Papadopoulos presented himself to the UK government as a representative of the Trump campaign.

According to BBC:

"As you would expect in the run up to an election we seek to build links with figures in both the Democratic and Republican presidential campaigns," a Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokeswoman told the BBC, confirming the meeting. "This type of outreach is normal diplomatic business."

While such meetings may be routine diplomacy, the fact that Papadopoulos was presenting himself to the government of one of the US's closest allies as a representative of the Trump campaign undercuts the White House's recent assertion that Papadopoulos was a campaign volunteer of little importance.

DAY 289: Donald Trump Jr did suggest to favor Russia when he asked lawyer for Clinton dirt

According to Bloomberg, Russian lawyer Natalia Vaselnitskaya revealed Donald Trump Jr. did suggest that the US policy towards Russia could change if Trump was elected president during the meeting he had with her to get dirt on Hillary Clinton. But he asked for the dirt on Clinton to be delivered in writing.

A Russian lawyer who met with President Donald Trump’s oldest son last year says he indicated that a law targeting Russia could be re-examined if his father won the election and asked her for written evidence that illegal proceeds went to Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

The lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, said in a two-and-a-half-hour interview in Moscow that she would tell these and other things to the Senate Judiciary Committee on condition that her answers be made public, something it hasn’t agreed to. She has received scores of questions from the committee, which is investigating possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign. Veselnitskaya said she’s also ready -- if asked -- to testify to Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

DAY 287: Trump's aide Carter Page met with Russian official en July of 2016

Donald Trump has denied that anyone in his campaign had contacts with Russian officials. But his campaign aide Carter Page met with a Russian official in July of 2016.

According to The New York Times:

Carter Page, a foreign policy adviser to the Trump presidential campaign, met Russian government officials during a July 2016 trip he took to Moscow, according to testimony he gave on Thursday to the House Intelligence Committee.

Shortly after the trip, Mr. Page sent an email to at least one Trump campaign aide describing insights he had after conversations with government officials, legislators and business executives during his time in Moscow, according to one person familiar with the contents of the message. The email was read aloud during the closed-door testimony.

DAY 286: Trump lies about Papadopoulos

So this morning Donald Trump said to CBS that he doesn't remember much about the meeting he had with George Papadapoulos. Problem is, as Kyle Griffin pointed out, Trump claimed back just a few days prior that he has a great memory:

Trump on Oct. 25: I have “one of the great memories.”

Trump now: “Don’t remember much about” Papadopoulos meeting. pic.twitter.com/3vwEvvOWnR

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) November 3, 2017

DAY 285: Donald Trump and Jeff Sessions knew about Papadopoulos's links to Russia

Donald Trump and Jeff Sessions knew about George Papadopoulos discussions with Russians to interfere in the US election in favor of Trump.

According to The New York Times:

Records in that case show that George Papadopoulos, a foreign policy adviser, had frequent discussions with Russians in 2016 and trumpeted his connections in front of Mr. Trump and Mr. Sessions.

...

At a March 31, 2016, meeting between Mr. Trump and his foreign policy team, Mr. Papadopoulos introduced himself and said “that he had connections that could help arrange a meeting between then-candidate Trump and President Putin,” according to court records.

DAY 282: Robert Mueller charges Paul Manafort and George Papadopulos

Special Counserl Robert Mueller charged former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and Trump's advisor George Papadopoulos as as result of the Russia investigation.

Manafort and his associate Rick Gates were indicted over charges of money laundering and other illegal activities related to foreign businesses. Both have pleaded not guilty.

Much more damaging are the charges against George Papadopuolos, a Trump adviser and campaign aide who was arrested in July for lying to the FBI about his contacts with a Russian professor who offered dirt on Hillary Clinton and tried to set up a meeting with Trump. Papadopoulos pleaded guilty.

DAY 281: Trump throws a desperate tantrum over Russia-gate criminal charges

Donald Trump threw a desperate tantrum this morning over the news that Special Counsel Robert Mueller filed criminal charges over the Russia collusion in vestigation, ending up with a cry of "DO SOMETHING!"

Never seen such Republican ANGER & UNITY as I have concerning the lack of investigation on Clinton made Fake Dossier (now $12,000,000?),....

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 29, 2017

...the Uranium to Russia deal, the 33,000 plus deleted Emails, the Comey fix and so much more. Instead they look at phony Trump/Russia,....

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 29, 2017

Robert Mueller files the first criminal charges in the Russia investigation

According to CNN, Special Counsel Robert Mueller filed the first criminal charges in the investigation of collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign.

From the CNN article:

DAY 279: Russian lawyer who met with Trump Jr. used Kremlin information

Even though Russian lawyer Natalia Vaselnitskaya denied working with the Kremlin when she met with Donald Trump Jr and Jared Kushener, new evidence reveals she used Kremlin information and even copied it verbatim. According to The New York Times:

...interviews and records show that in the months before the meeting, Ms. Veselnitskaya had discussed the allegations with one of Russia’s most powerful officials, the prosecutor general, Yuri Y. Chaika. And the memo she brought with her closely followed a document that Mr. Chaika’s office had given to an American congressman two months earlier, incorporating some paragraphs verbatim.

...

It also suggests that emails from an intermediary to the younger Mr. Trump promising that Ms. Veselnitskaya would arrive with information from Russian prosecutors were rooted at least partly in fact — not mere “puffery,” as the president’s son later said.

DAY 273: Trump lies about media coverage of the 2016 elections

Because of the fact that evidence shows Russia spent a lot of money on Facebook ads to promote Donald Trump, and Trump can't deny it, now he's trying to minimize it by saying the news media spent billions on fake news:

Keep hearing about "tiny" amount of money spent on Facebook ads. What about the billions of dollars of Fake News on CNN, ABC, NBC & CBS?

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 21, 2017

But that's another one of Trump's lies. There were no fake reports on the media against Trump. And in fact, the major networks gave Trump far more coverage than to Hillary Clinton.

DAY 271: Trump pushes fake news on Russia that have been long debunked

Apparently in yet another attempt to claim he didn't collude with Russia -even though he is being investigated by Special Counsel Robert Mueller precisely for collusion with Russia- Donald Trump tweeted this:

Uranium deal to Russia, with Clinton help and Obama Administration knowledge, is the biggest story that Fake Media doesn't want to follow!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 19, 2017

Which is another one of Trump's lies.

Trump has spent $1.1 million in legal fees because of Russia investigation

Donald Trump has spent $1.1 million dollars in legal fees because of the Russia investigation. And he's using his campaign funds to pay the legal fees. According to The New York Times, that amounts to over 25% of his campaign funds (meaning the people who donate to his campaign are paying for his lawyers instead of him paying out of his own pocket).

Not only that, but Trump increased the amount of money spent as the investigation also escalated.

Trump still has not implemented sanctions against Russia

Because of the fact that Donald Trump has not implemented the sanctions against Russia that Congress passed and Trump signed into law on August 2, two Senators, including John McCain, sent a letter to Trump asking him why:

McCain and Cardin want answers from Trump on why it's taking so long to implement the Russian sanctions that Congress passed. pic.twitter.com/SEEXDXcvuL

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) October 11, 2017